Chapter 25

Stephanie

“Kayla!” I race towards her. My stomach clenches when I see the blood. I pull out my phone with shaky hands and dial 911. I reach her and drop to her side; she’s completely unconscious. Blood pools from somewhere on her head. I hear the operator, and I rattle off what I know. “I’ve got a student who’s diabetic. Her numbers went too low. She’s passed out in the hallway, and she’s bleeding from somewhere on her head.” Panic laces every word, and my heart is nearly beating out of my chest. My hands dig through her bag as I search for what I need.

“Is she breathing?” the operator asks calmly.

I find her wrist and with shaky fingers check for a pulse. “Yes.”

“Paramedics are enroute.” She says more, but I can’t hear her over the roaring in my ears. My hands are shaky, but I manage to find her emergency treatment. I tear off the seal and put the pump to her nose. After giving her the treatment, I try to find where she’s bleeding from. By now, a few students have gathered around me. I glance up. “Sam, run to the front door so you can lead the EMTs here.” His shocked eyes meet mine a moment before he turns and runs away. “Rachel, get Miss Campbell!” I finally find the gash on her head. It’s pumping out blood, and I know it’s going to need stitches. I put pressure there to try to stop the bleeding. I look at Kayla’s face; she’s still out cold. Her face is so white.

“Stephanie!” I hear Brielle’s voice. Then she’s beside me. “Kayla!” she breathes.

“I gave her the emergency treatment. What else do I do?” I can’t keep the panic from my voice.

Brielle takes the medic bag and begins pulling out supplies. She grabs one of Kayla’s fingers, and it dawns on me what she’s doing. I kick myself; I should have thought to prick her finger to see what her numbers are. Brielle methodically prepares and pricks Kayla’s finger. We both wait for the number to appear. Brielle grimaces, and I know it’s not good. She shows me. 32. “Why isn’t the emergency treatment working?” I ask, panicky.

“Sometimes it doesn’t if you’re too depleted. She’ll need an IV of dextrose.”

I hear her talking, but her words don’t seem to register. I will the EMTs to get here. I hear a commotion and look up. Stark relief fills me when I see the paramedics arrive. Two of them drop next to me and begin firing questions. I answer the best I can before moving out of their way. Within minutes, Kayla is hooked up to an IV and loaded onto a stretcher. My heart pains at seeing her small body on the large stretcher. Her eyes flutter open, and I see the panic in them instantly. Without thinking, I move to her side. “It’s okay, Kayla. You dropped too low and passed out.” I hold her hand, the one not hooked to the IV. I start to pull back, but she tightens her grip on my hand. I look back at Brielle.

“Go with her; we’ll get your classes covered. I’ll make sure her mom is called and everything is done by the book.”

“Is it okay if I go with?” I ask the paramedics as we walk. “I’m not her parent, but I’m her teacher.” The paramedics look at each other for a moment. “Please, I don’t want her to be alone.” The one finally nods, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

The ride to the hospital is the longest ten minutes of my life. We finally get to the hospital, and they wheel her inside. I squeeze her hand before she’s pushed away, out of sight. I approach the front desk, wondering if they’ll let me through to the emergency room, even though I’m not family. “Stephanie?” I hear the panicked call and whirl around to see Kristin coming towards me, panic in her eyes.

“She’s okay. They just took her back,” I try to reassure her as quickly as possible. She blinks back tears and approaches the front desk.

“My name is Kristin; my daughter was just brought in.” I stand beside her, offering her moral support. She blinks back tears and shakes her phone in frustration.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I can’t get ahold of Keith,” her voice comes out on a sob.

“Where is he?” I ask gently.

“He’s at Sebastian’s, using his gym.”

I nod. “I’ll go get him. Text me Sebastian’s address.”

“Really?” she asks.

“Yes, go see Kayla. I’ll find him.”

A moment later, they let her through. I watch her walk through the doors and then whirl around. I need to go find her husband. I get to the door before I realize I don’t have a car. Frustration fills me even as I open my app and order an Uber. I wait impatiently, pacing the sidewalk outside the hospital. My phone pings with a text from an unknown number. I open it and see the address. I save Kristin’s number and wait for my Uber. Thankfully, he pulls up only a few minutes later. I give him the address, and we’re off. I try to relax against the seat, but I”m too riled up. About twenty minutes later, we finally stop in front of a house. I jump out, thank the driver, and run to the front door. I bang on the door, willing Keith to hear me. When nobody answers, a bad feeling fills me. If he’s listening to music, he’s never going to hear me. I bang on the door again and nearly stumble forward when it opens suddenly. Keith looks down at me in surprise. Relief floods through me.

“Oh good.” I take a breath, so I can tell him what I need to calmly. “You need to get to the hospital. Kayla passed out at school. She’s okay,” I say quickly. “But Kristen was trying to get ahold of you and couldn’t. She’s with her now.” He turns away with a curse and disappears. I”m not sure if I should follow or not. He appears a moment later, phone in hand. He closes the door behind him and runs down the steps to a car in the driveway.

I follow him. “Can I jump in with you?” He nods, and I hop in. He peels out and begins the drive to the hospital. It’s awkwardly silent in the car, and I resist the urge to squirm. He”s so intimidating. The ride seems to take forever. Finally, we make it to the hospital. He parks and jogs to the front entrance; I watch him go and take a full breath for what feels like the first time in a long while.

I stand in the parking lot, unsure what to do. I decide to call another Uber, this one to take me back to school. I put in the request, but since it”s going to be close to a half hour, I head inside to the waiting room. I’m standing off to the side when I see Sebastian’s parents come in. They look so frazzled, I find myself walking over to them before I realize what I’m doing. His mom sees me first and squeezes me in a big hug. “How is she?” Somehow she’s not surprised to see me here.

“She’s okay,” I tell them. “I haven’t heard anything since I got here, but her eyes were open for the entire ride in the ambulance.”

“Oh thank God,” Kelly says, still gripping my hands hard. “I’m so glad you were with her,” she says with tears in her eyes. I feel uncomfortable with the praise; I feel nothing but guilt. I’m the one that sent her to the bathroom. I should have made sure she had her medic bag, made sure her numbers were okay or even noticed if she was shaky or pale. Instead, I sent her alone to the bathroom. Remorse floods me, and I pull my hand out of her grip.

“You should go back and see them,” I say, my voice thick with emotion.

Kelly squeezes my hand one more time and then grabs Lou’s hand. “Thank you,” he says sincerely before they walk away. I take a steadying breath, feeling oddly emotional. I’m still waiting when I see Tina and Andrew entering the waiting room. Sebastian’s sister sees me and beelines it towards me.

I brace myself. “Stephanie, I’m so glad you were with her. How is she?”

“Her eyes were open in the ambulance.” I tell her the same thing I told her parents. “Your parents were just here and went back.”

I get a notification that my Uber is here. “I’ve got to go; my ride is here.”

“Okay. Thank you so much,” Tina says, hugging me one more time.

“Thank you,” Andrew says, putting a hand on my shoulder. They both walk into the waiting room. I turn for a moment and watch as Sebastian’s parents walk over to them, and they all hug each other. A lump forms in my throat, and I turn away. I’m thankful Kayla’s family is all here and loves her. I walk outside and climb into the Uber. Before long, I’m back at school. The last period before lunch is just ending, so I head to the teacher’s lounge. I don’t bother grabbing my lunch because I’m not hungry. Besides, Sebastian has provided lunch every day this week. I have a feeling today will be no different. I’m just entering the room when my phone buzzes. I look down and am surprised to see Aiden’s name. I answer, wondering if he’s trying to get ahold of Brielle.

“Hey, Aiden.”

“Stephanie.” I freeze at the sound of Sebastian’s voice. “Aiden just told me what happened with Kayla. Are you all right?”

His words take me by surprise. The biggest one being, why is he asking about me and not Kayla? I wonder why he’s calling on Aiden’s phone, and I wonder why it’s taken an emergency for him to reach out. But I push that all away and focus on what’s important. “She was awake in the ambulance; that’s all I know right now.” I repeat the same thing I’ve told all his other concerned family members.

“That’s good, but I asked about you,” he responds.

“I’m fine,” I say without thinking.

I hear noise coming from his end, and he says something to somebody. Then it suddenly gets quiet. “You had to have been terrified,” he says quietly.

I blow out a breath. “Yeah, it was a little scary,” I admit.

“What actually happened? I just heard from Aiden that she passed out, and you found her.”

I walk out of the teacher’s room and find a quiet place in the hallway. “It was my fault. I sent her to the bathroom and then heard her monitor beeping. By the time I got it out and realized how low she was, she’d already passed out. She hit her head on the floor or the wall or something because she was bleeding pretty heavily; I know she’ll have to have stitches.”

He lets out a sound. “Man.”

“Yeah, but she’s okay. Her eyes were open in the ambulance.”

He mutters something that I can’t hear, and I can picture him running his hand through his hair. “I’m so glad you were with her,” he finally says.

I don’t deserve the gratitude. “Well, she wouldn’t have passed out in the first place if I’d been more aware.”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Steph,” he says quietly. “You didn’t do anything wrong; you couldn’t have known. You helped her when it really counted; remember that.”

His words make me feel emotional, and I don’t know how to handle it. “I need to go.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go.” His voice is gentle. “I’m sorry I haven’t called you. I left my phone at the first hotel. They have it, and they were supposed to mail it to my house. In the meantime, I don’t have a phone.” I can hear the frustration in his voice. Something eases in my chest; he didn’t ignore me.

“I’m sorry. Do you want me to try to get it from your house and send it to you somehow?”

“If I get a confirmation that it gets delivered, I might. I’ll let you know. Thank you, Stephanie.”

A warm feeling builds inside me. “You’re welcome, Sebastian.”